Local Services Ads charge you per lead. Google Ads Search charges per click, so your website decides what each lead costs. Fund Local Services Ads first, up to what it can actually spend. Give Search only the searches LSA cannot buy. A fixed percentage split is a guess.

On this page

• What is the actual difference between Local Services Ads and Google Ads?
• Which one costs less for a trades business?
• When should a trades business run Local Services Ads alone?
• When does a Google Ads Search campaign earn its place next to LSA?
• How should I split a budget across both?
• What changes once Local Services Ads moves inside Google Ads?
• What went wrong when I ran Search without a cost anchor?
• So which one should I pick?

What is the actual difference between Local Services Ads and Google Ads?

They sit on the same results page and they are sold in opposite ways.

Most comparison pages stop at "leads vs clicks". The row that decides the split for a small operator is the website one.

Which one costs less for a trades business?

Nobody can answer that with a national average, and you should distrust anyone who tries. Here is what a click costs on one account I run.

A US electrician in a small metro, non-brand Search, 2 to 20 September 2026. The campaign runs Monday to Friday, so that is 13 live days. It spent $1,216.91 on 41 clicks. Average cost per click: $29.68. It logged 4 calls from ads, so about $304 per call. The keyword "electrical repair" averaged $37.06 a click. One click on "electricians near me" cost $136.55.

Read that as a click price, not a verdict. A call from ads is not a booked job, and four calls is too few to judge a campaign on.

Now picture the same budget on Local Services Ads. You would not pay for the 37 clicks that never called. That is the whole case for per-lead pricing, and it is a real one. It is also why a cheap-looking lead price is not the end of the sum. Google does not credit leads from people who were only pricing a job, and a booking the customer later cancels is still charged. Judge both channels on cost per booked job, never on cost per lead against cost per click.

I cannot put a clean LSA cost per lead from the same account next to that Search figure yet. The Google Ads API returns no lead rows for that standalone LSA account, and I do not publish a number I have not reconciled against the dashboard. When I have it, it goes here.

When should a trades business run Local Services Ads alone?

Three conditions. Any one of them is enough.

• Your website does not convert. On the same electrician account, clicks that landed on the homepage converted at 0.8% (1,216 clicks). Clicks that landed on the Google Business Profile converted at 9.3% (420 clicks). Some of that gap is the format, since tapping call on a listing is one action. Most of it is a site with no service pages. Search money spent against a 0.8% page buys you the site's problem. LSA does not route through the site at all.
• Your budget cannot feed both. Google recommends budgeting for at least 10 leads a week on Maximize leads. If you cannot fund that, splitting it further starves both.
• You answer the phone. Responsiveness is a stated LSA ranking input and missed calls count against you. An owner who picks up is already doing the cheapest thing that moves LSA rank.

When does a Google Ads Search campaign earn its place next to LSA?

When it buys something LSA structurally cannot.

• Specific job types worth more than the average lead. LSA lumps work into job types. Search lets you bid on the exact words for a panel upgrade or a repipe and send them to a page about that job.
• Someone else is bidding on your name. LSA shows only your ad on a search for your business, but it cannot stop a competitor's Search ad sitting above it. If nobody bids on your name, the organic listing catches those people for free. If someone does, a small brand campaign is cheap. On the electrician account, brand Search ran at $17.76 per call over the same 13 days, against $304 on non-brand.
• Competitor names. LSA cannot target them. Search can. Use it carefully and never negate a competitor term that has already produced booked work.
• Your site converts. This is the gate for all of the above. A service page that turns clicks into calls is what makes a $30 click affordable.

How should I split a budget across both?

In order, not by percentage. Fill each step until it stops absorbing money, then move to the next.

Why not 50/50? Because a fixed split assumes both channels can take the money. LSA volume is capped by how many people in your area search for your job types. In a small town that ceiling comes sooner than most owners expect. The honest split is whatever is left once LSA stops taking more.

And one rule for how I price it. I do not quote LSA and Google Ads as two separate line items for a US trade. From 2026 they are one account and one budget, so they get one number.

What changes once Local Services Ads moves inside Google Ads?

The comparison stays the same. The plumbing around it changes.

• You still pay per valid lead. The migrated campaign is a Performance Max campaign with a pay-per-lead goal, not a pay-per-click one.
• Manual bidding goes. A maximum cost per lead is not supported in Google Ads.
• Both channels end up in one account, so you can finally read them in one report.
• US storefront trades started moving in August 2026. Service-area businesses, which is most electricians and plumbers, move in late 2026. Canada follows in 2027. Save your LSA reports before your date, because they do not transfer.

Google has not published how a pay-per-lead campaign and a Search campaign in the same account are weighed against each other for the same search. Until it does, do not assume one steps aside for the other.

What went wrong when I ran Search without a cost anchor?

On that electrician account, the target cost per call was removed on the same day the old keyword set was paused. The bidder lost its price limit and its history in one move, and it had one conversion to learn from.

Across that day and the next two, non-brand Search spent $415.91 for 17 clicks and 1 call. On one of those days it spent $243.65 for 4 clicks. That is $60.91 a click, at 1.95 times the $125 daily budget. Two local head terms took most of it.

That is the risk Search carries and LSA does not. A click-priced campaign in a thin local market will pay whatever it takes to spend. Per-lead pricing cannot run away from you like that. If you run Search for a trades business, keep a target on it and do not change two things on the same day.

So which one should I pick?

Start with Local Services Ads. Add Search for brand defence, for high-value job types, and only once a page on your site turns clicks into calls. Then let cost per booked job, not a percentage, decide where the next dollar goes.

Sources

• Google Ads Help: “Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals”
• Local Services Help: “How leads work”
• Local Services Help: “How bidding works for Local Services Ads”
• Local Services Help: “About ad rankings”
• Local Services Help: “About direct business search”
• Google Ads Help: “About Quality Score for Search campaigns”

Related questions

I'm a plumber with $1,000 a month to spend — should it go to Local Services Ads or regular Google Ads?

Start with Local Services Ads. At that budget a Search campaign rarely produces enough conversions for Smart Bidding to steer, and you carry the risk of every click. Read the full answer.

Google is moving Local Services Ads into Performance Max. What actually changes, and what should I do before it hits my account?

It happens automatically, in phases. Service-area businesses move in late 2026 and Canada in 2027. Save your LSA reports first, because they do not transfer. Read the full answer.

My cost per lead looks fine but the business still isn't making money. What number should I actually be managing to?

Cost per booked job. A cheap lead that never books is not cheap. Read the full answer.

Written by Usama Khan, who runs Google Ads for e-commerce brands and home-services companies at AdventurAds. Figures are from accounts under active management and are anonymised. Platform details checked against Google's documentation on 2026-09-21. Last reviewed 2026-09-21.